We will be flying in and out of Dublin for a 10 day trip. Our possible itinerary is to spend our first day in Dublin seeing what we can see before jet lag does us in. We were then thinking about taking a bus tour to Belfast/Giants Causeway the second day and then spending the second night in Dublin and on the third day renting a car and heading towards either Galway or Kilkenny (haven't decided exactly which way we want to go). Our alternative itinerary is to spend Day 1 and Day 2 seeing Dublin. Then we take the bus tour to Northern Ireland on Day 3. Then on Day 4 head out towards Galway or Kilkenny. My question is should we take two days to see Dublin or is one day enough time to get a good taste? Our plan was if we only spent the one day seeing Dublin we would schedule in about another half day at the end of our trip for a little more sightseeing there before we fly home the next day. Opinions??
Another option...
Have you considered driving yourselves to Giant's Causeway and then continuing from there to Galway, rather than comng back to Dublin? Galway and especially Connemara is so beautiful, much nicer than Kilkenny in my opinion. Doing this will give you chance to see some more of Ireland and will take you through Donegal which is scenically the best in Ireland.
Work out what you want to see in Dublin and then decide whether you need one or two days. Are you a city person, or are you more interested in seeing the countryside?
I'd suggest three nights in Dublin, so two big fat full days and then rent a car and then two nights Belfast (one half day for the city a trip to the GC and rope bridge) and then three nights Galway (an Arann Island and The Burren/Cliffs of Moher for day trips) down to Cork for the night and then back to Dublin.
I assume your day trip to Belfast / Carrick-y-Rede / GC is scheduled for about 13 to 14 hours in total and allows no more than about an hour at each stop. It is a long trip and does not give justice to any of the stops even if you have your sandwiches on the coast.
If this is crucial to your itinerary I would skip Kilkenny increase your car hire to include Northern Ireland which will probably be cheaper than your coach trip especially if there are at least two of you.
While Donegal could be an option you could also travel south via the Sperrin Mountains and then visa the Fermanagh Lakes before heding to the west coast via Enniskillen, Glencar and Yeat's Country and on through Sligo. Fine tuning will of course depend on your interests but plenty of historical interst, natural history, variety of landscapes as examples.
R
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